G10, Hirozane Sugihara ‘99, Yoshihiko Morikawa, Uncle, 1938, Kanagawa: Kamakura-shi
In November 1997, I decided to interview my maternal uncle, named Yoshihiko Morikawa. He is 59 years old and works for a medical equipment company. He lives in Kamakura with his wife, his two sons, and their cat. I remembered the times when I was small and my uncle told me stories about his experiences during the war. Since he was born in 1938, and he was only seven years old when the war ended, his memories are quite vague. Obviously he never fought in the war, and neither did my grandfather, because he was disabled.
My uncle was coming home from elementary school, walking alone through a passageway between rice paddies. He claims that he was a studious boy, so he was hurrying home to study. It was a nice day with hardly any clouds. He didn’t hear any sounds except for the cicadas (semi) which had begun to chirp. Then suddenly from behind him, he heard a rumbling noise. He didn’t know what it was and refused to turn around, just kept walking. Then as the sound grew louder and closer, a sudden fear struck him, and he turned around. He saw an American fighter plane flying right towards him at low altitude. He didn’t know what to do, so he just ducked down where he had been standing. He was expecting bullets or bombs, but the plane just flew very close above him and went past. My uncle thinks that because he was only a child, the American pilot decided not to attack him.
He also remembers when the whole family had to hide in the bomb shelter (bōkūgō) when the air raid siren went off. He had some idea what was happening. But his younger brother, who had just been born, had no clue, yet he didn’t cry, which surprised my uncle. The interior of the shelter was wet and very uncomfortable, but he just had to wait until the alarm ended. Luckily, he never experienced bombing himself, but some of his friends were injured by bombs. He also remembers that his father, my grandfather, didn’t talk at all. He was just sitting at the very back of the shelter, and he looked like he was meditating. My grandmother was too busy looking after her baby.
Right after the war ended, Japan had experienced a deceitful defeat and was suffering and struggling to rebuild the country. My uncle was too young to be thinking about rebuilding, and he had nothing against the American soldiers who treated him well. When the soldiers would drive by in their Jeeps, they usually stopped when they saw kids and gave them free candy. My uncle received this too, and it was the first time he had tasted chewing gum. He also got chocolate bars. He didn’t care if Japan had lost against the U.S. All he cared about was the sweets that the American soldiers brought and the small fun they would have with them.